We Investigated Vazedex: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Vazedex.com service popped up, promoting itself as a platform where you can securely store cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather credible evidence that clearly indicates it is, in fact, a deceptive site.

Regardless of the promises of the most convenient, trustworthy, and customer-centric service, Vazedex.com does not follow any of them. All this is just a gilded wrap around a dirty scam, which takes your funds and never returns them. Any stories about gifts, endorsement from celebrities etc are non-existent as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

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Vazedex Scam Overview

Originally, Vazedex poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with exceptionally low commission fees. Another notable marketing point for this site is backing from celebrities that are known in the crypto world. Vitalii Buterin (Ethereum creator), Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look real, frauds use deepfake videos with those celebs advertise the fake crypto service as the best thing in the world. Obviously, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a vivid wrap around an obvious scam.

Vazedex Scam

Initially, Vazedex repeats the appearance of multiple equivalent websites. There are quite a few examples, like Nevibix, Knesu or Cryptox. They are completely indistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with small discrepancies in the website header. Other specific elements, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Presumably, all these fraudulent sites are managed by a single group of swindrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Vazedex Scam Works?

Vazedex is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Swindlers who stand behind it use numerous website designs, which still share the similar overall layout. Another common element are the ways the scams like NAME are promoted, and the manner all this ends up to the victim of the scam. To reach peak efficiency, frauds apply advanced psychological tricks that make the user believe in the legitimacy of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To begin the fraud, criminals establish and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They generally aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign starts. Utilizing bots and sponsored advertisements (when possible), scam actors increase the presence of their scam activities to possible victims. And as I said, scammers do not shy away using generative AI for creating videos with the mentioned celebrities that promote their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, frauds claim the bonus for every user who registers the service immediately.

Promotions of cryptoscams like Vazedex in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Users get an incentive to sign up, drawn by the promise of receiving cryptocurrency benefits valued at thousands of dollars, all free of charge. To enhance the appeal of the offer, false claims of cooperation with a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these claims are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After following the ads, users end up on a page filled with enticing offers. “Crypto starts with Vazedex”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Vazedex, “Start earning with Vazedex – they look rather authoritative. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, scammers say that obtaining the pledged bonus requires registration. And since nothing suspicious happens at this point, uninformed users happily proceed – especially as the gift appears to be right behind the corner.

At this point, it is possible to get away from the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal information, frauds will not earn even a penny from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is the starting poing of the main fraud action. As I just mentioned, scammers bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this information and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the promised bonus right away. To make it at least usable for cryptocurrency purchases, you need to top up the account with the equivalent sum. And this is what starts the final step of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any crypto purchases require having funds on your account. With Vazedex, users are also compelled to top up to use the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates most of the money flow to this scam website. By topping up the account, users hope to get the pledged gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start engaging on this website hoping to use all the deposited money and withdraw them.

This is where the victim notices the problems. When keeping an eye on the real crypto wallet vs what the website says, you can observe that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to pull out the funds from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

Needless to say that fraudsters have zero intentions to return your money. But to make the fraud look more realistic, they’ve elaborated a whole pack of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Usually, they repeat what KYC regulations say, but for the Vazedex.com they are here exclusively to make the withdrawal impossible.

By requesting your personal info, deceivers just stall hoping for you to accept the loss and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are multiple other checks you would desperately need to undergo before getting your funds back. And each of these checks will uncover more and more info of yours, which – you guessed it right – will be then traded on the Darknet. Never reveal your real info to strangers!

Signs of Scam

I gathered several facts that point at the scammy nature of the Vazedex.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Absent company details. Vazedex does not provide any documentation about its ownership, location or registration. No legitimate contact details are given either. Moreover, it appears that the domain and all social network pages were registered quite recently.
• Fake sponsorship from a celebrity. Scams like Vazedex like to pick a celebrity as a sponsor of this entire campaign. For obvious reasons, fraudsters generally choose Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, Mark Zuckerberg, and similar celebrities. They do not disdain claiming partnership with a company as well. Even though Coinbase, Binance or MetaMask never heard of Vazedex, they do not care – this creates a halo of credibility.
• Potential Ponzi Scheme. The scam relies on a Ponzi-like referral system to spread reach through social media. In fact, only the first members will receive the payoff, at the cost of the money brought by other members.
• Hype without facts. Frauds can cheer up their victims from time to time, using claims about non-existent events. “We got contracts with Coinbase”, “Elon Musk mentioned us as the most prolific crypto project” – you could likely hear something like that. This is made to make people believe in their money return. This can be the sauce to make people top-up their accounts once again.
• Crypto-only incoming payments. Whether the user tries to top-up the account, hackers will only accept payments in crypto – no bank transfers or other payment methods. Such an approach completely hides the identity of the company and deprives you of the ability to ask for a refund.
• Claims are too good to be true. Let’s be sane and sober: even in crypto space, there are not many places where you can earn 50-100-200%. Being able to participate in all of them is nearly impossible, as well as it is impossible to insure or hedge all the risks. Even by that reason alone I can tell that the Vazedex is a definite scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Vazedex site and fell victim to that scam, there are still some steps to take. They will make further scam attempts harder, and also boost the knowledge about that scam among folks.

• Immediate Reporting. Your initial step should involve promptly notifying local authorities specializing in financial fraud. Extend your reach by reaching out to wallet providers and engaging with social networks’ technical support teams. These actions serve to raise the bar for the scammers’ operations.
• Share among Friends. Amplify your efforts by informing your close friends about the scam. Similar to informing authorities, this dissemination of information restricts the scammers’ potential victim pool.
• Preserve Crucial Information. Compile a comprehensive evidence archive by capturing screenshots and archiving all relevant website-related data. Collect the website URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These records could provide vital clues for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Exploring Refund Options. While most banks’ refund policies may exclude cryptocurrency payments, it’s advisable to explore potential refund avenues under specific circumstances. Maintain hope until you obtain confirmation of the loss.
• Transform Loss into Knowledge. Turn your financial setback into an opportunity for growth. View your loss as an investment in understanding the strategies employed by crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their telltale characteristics, the methods they employ to entice individuals, and the extravagant promises they make. Equipped with this insight, you’ll be well-prepared to spot and evade future traps without suffering additional financial setbacks.

Scan your system for possible malware infections

Beware of cross scams! Scam actors can use your trust to make you download some stuff or interact with certain documents. It may be a trap that installs malware to your system. There are no moral barriers or limits for these scoundrels.

Throughout the course of the scam, its masters may contact you with specific documents. Alternatively, they may offer you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your crypto assets. As we previously determined, these rascals have no intention of restoring your capital. So, what do these messages and browser add-ons represent? You guessed – this is another side of the scam designed to entice you into deliberately installing malicious programs onto your system.

Both extensions and files included to emails can act as a shell for various malicious code. In this case, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among all types of threats. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always greater than zero. As stated, their ethics is of little concern, and their dignity is already deeply compromised. They have nothing to lose and intend to maximize gains.

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